The game was long over, but Jake Barnett was still on the floor working on his jump shot while the clean-up crews toiled away at Savage Arena.
Barnett and the other seven freshmen for the University of Toledo men's basketball team received a rude welcome to college hoops last night, suffering a 56-49 exhibition loss to Central State.
The Rockets trailed for nearly the entire second half as the Marauders outrebounded UT 44-40 and held their opponent to 34 percent shooting (22-of-64), including 4-of-21 from beyond the arc in the game.
"You're always disappointed with a loss. Period," UT coach Gene Cross said. "I told the guys that this doesn't count against our record, but it counts. When we get out on the floor [today], our attitude will be much different than it has been. My attitude will be much different than it has been. This is one to grow on. This is a great lesson for a young team."
Junior forward Mouhamed Lo led the Rockets with 15 points, while junior forward Justin Anyijong had 11 points and a game-high 20 rebounds.
"It's a great way for our guys to find out what kind of level of play you have to bring every single night," Anyijong said. "We have to give Central State credit. They're a pretty good team. They came in and executed their plays and looked more comfortable than we did."Central State, a Division II institution in southwest Ohio, had four seniors see plenty of minutes last night and used their experience to their benefit.
Senior forward Gino Smith, a transfer from Eastern Michigan, had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore point guard and Sandusky native Cole Prophet added 16 points and three assists.
"They had eight freshmen that had never touched a basketball court, and we have a couple veteran guards," Central State coach Doug Lewis said. "We thought we could take advantage of that."
Five freshmen ended up seeing time for the Rockets, with Barnett and guard Josh Freelove leading the way with five points apiece.
Forward Jordan Dressler (four points) and guard Stephen Albrecht (three points) joined Barnett in the starting lineup.
Barnett attempted the most shots of any UT player, finishing 2-of-14 from the field.
"For all us freshmen, it was a good indicator of how fast the game is," said Barnett, who spent about 20 minutes after the game taking shots from all over the court in his UT shorts and a cutoff T-shirt.
"I hate losing, so it's tough to accept it. But we just have to use this as a learning experience and just move on from here."
The UT co-captain also vowed that the Rockets would play much better in their regular-season opener against Eastern Illinois on Saturday at Savage Arena.
"For me and the rest of our team, it's a good wake-up call," Barnett said, "because we're going to come in on Saturday and we're going to play our butts off. I don't want that to happen again and I know our team doesn't want that to happen again."
Contact Zach Silka
at: zsilka@theblade.com.
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